Choice from lists in game theory and mechanism design

Abstract

Game theory models choice via preferences or treats choice as primitive. This thesis studies strategic environments in which players choose from lists and integrates this perspective into game theory and mechanism design. It develops a list-based framework with a corresponding equilibrium notion and presents existence and uniqueness conditions. In mechanism design, the implementation problem within this framework is visited and necessary and sufficient conditions are derived. Libertarian Paternalist mechanisms, which preserve each player’s full menu while steering choices via ordering, are analyzed, and the conditions for implementation are characterized. Finally, efficiency is analyzed through two different approaches: efficiency of mechanisms, a novel approach, and efficiency of social choice rules, the standard in the literature.